The dust in Ahvaz is at a record 66 times greater than the legal limit: with particles in the air reaching 9985 micrograms per cubic meter.
It’s been dusty in Ahvaz for some time – the city is the most polluted in the world according to World Health Organization (2013) data. But recently the situation its even worse than usual.
The Head of Iran’s Environment Protection Organization, Masoumeh Ebtekar, wanted to hold emergency meetings locally – but the trip had to be cancelled because the dust forced airline flight closures. Although the head of passive defense at the National oil company has said that the dust is coming from Syria and Iraq – and there is definitely a transnational problem with dust – the deputy of the Iranian meteorological research centre claimed on 5 Feb 2015 that the dust is coming from inside Iran.
The MP for Ahvaz says that the dust is mainly a result of drought at, and dessication of, Hur ul-Azim (a wetland in western Khuzestan), and announced the government allocation of 3 trillion rials (with 34,500 rials equalling USD1) towards planting trees in dust-source areas in Khuzestan.
Local demonstrations have been backed up by satire on social media. The ‘society to support endangered species’ announced “Good news for the residents of Khuzestan. In light of the fact that the … dust storm will exterminate the residents of Khuzestan, there are plans to replace … the image of Asiatic Cheetah [an endangered species] that appears on the jersey of the national soccer team with the image of the last human survivor in the province [of Khuzestan].”